Order Wang Shitai’s Troops to Go Straight Out to Changwu and Binxian and Quickly Occupy the Counties Between the Jing and Wei Rivers[1]

(August 10, 1947)

He and Xi, and inform Peng:

Our Liu-Deng[2] army has already begun its advance toward the Dabie Mountains. The Chen-Xie Group[3] will cross the river before the last ten-day period of the month to attack the Tongguan-Luoyang sector[4]. Please order Wang Shitai[5] to lead the 1st and 3rd Garrison Brigades in swift action, go straight out to Changwu and Binxian, attack and occupy the counties south of the Jing River and north of the Wei River, and draw in the Provisional 2nd Brigade, the New 1st Brigade, and other units so that they cannot be transferred east. Where is Shitai now? The faster these troops move, the better.

Central Military Commission

Wei, hai, 21–23 hours

[1] This was a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, addressed to He Long, commander of the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Suiyuan Joint Defense Army, and Xi Zhongxun, its political commissar, and for the information of Peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the Northwest Field Army.

[2] Liu-Deng refers to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, who at the time were respectively commander and political commissar of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.

[3] The Chen-Xie Group refers to the operational group formed by the 4th Column and the 9th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, the 38th Army of the Northwest Democratic United Army, and the 22nd Brigade of the Taiyue Military District. On July 27, 1947, the group’s Front Committee was formally established, with Chen Geng as secretary and Xie Fuzhi as deputy secretary.

[4] The Tongguan-Luoyang sector refers to the railway from Tongguan to Luoyang, i.e., a section of the Longhai Line.

[5] Wang Shitai was at the time commander of the 4th Column of the Northwest Field Army.